


The End of the Line

by ublfo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Stucky if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 17:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ublfo/pseuds/ublfo
Summary: After everything that's happened, some promises are bound to be broken.





	The End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

> hey it's been ages since I've posted at all and it's almost four am and I got back from seeing endgame a few hours ago and I may or may not still be crying!!!! anyway this probably isn't coherent and there's no deep ass meaning or literary genius in it I'm just sad and I wanted to get my feelings out. enjoy!

It won’t be long now.

While Steve sleeps, Bucky watches him from the side of his hospital bed. He’s okay for now, just a touch of the flu, but Bucky’s not stupid. He knows that when old people get sick, sick like this, it usually means the end is coming.

_ Old people. _ That’s not Steve. Steve is healthy, strong; he kicks ass and takes names when it’s the right thing to do. But when Bucky thinks about it, that’s not really Steve either. Not the Steve he knows. Steve Rogers is a scrawny kid from Brooklyn that doesn’t know when to quit. Steve Rogers is a fighting spirit, sure, but he’s also an artist, a thinker, a sensitive soul. An asthmatic. His best friend.

Now, over 70 years later, only a handful of which Bucky has been autonomous for, Steve Rogers is a frail old man dying in a hospital bed. It shouldn’t be sad; he’s lived a long, happy life, spent with the woman he loved and having done great things for the world. He would be remembered not just as Steve Rogers, but as Captain America. A hero. But where does that leave Bucky?

Steve shifts under the blanket, and Bucky rises from his flimsy plastic chair to draw the curtain slightly, shading Steve’s face from the mid-afternoon sun. He stills again, but Bucky remains standing. He stares at his friend, searching for some sense of familiarity or comfort, but all he can see are the deep wrinkles in his face; a map marking not places in the world, but moments in his life. Moments Bucky would never be able to share, or even hear about. Yeah, that’s Steve, but not  _ his _ Steve. A part of him always knew that after everything that happened, he’d never have  _ his _ Steve back, but having any Steve at all would be better than this.

He knows it’s selfish. He knows he should be happy that his best friend got to live the life he wanted to live, back home, with Peggy. He can’t be angry in Steve’s last weeks, or days, or who-knows-how-long, because this is time he’ll never get back. But that doesn’t soothe the ache in his chest.

Once, Bucky made a promise. “I’m with you till the end of the line.” Years later, Steve made that promise back. Bucky’s here, not till, but  _ at _ the end of the line. The best he could do to keep his promise. Steve can’t keep his promise, though. He made that choice when he went back to Peggy. And Bucky would just have to make peace with that.

He hears footsteps down the hall, and wipes his eyes, but doesn’t look away from Steve. He hears a voice, but doesn’t look up right away, because he just needs a  _ second. _ Just  _ one _ more second.

“Hey, Eric Draven. You listening to me?”

Bucky puts a finger to his lips, and Sam notices that Steve is sleeping. Then, managing to keep his voice even, he asks, “Why would I ever willingly listen to you, Sam?”

“Because I’m like 90% sure this is a counterfeit bill you gave me,” he responds, waving said bill in Bucky’s face. “The vending machine won’t take it!”

Bucky chuckles a little. “I bet you’re just not doing it properly.” He snatches the bill out of Sam’s hand and heads into the hall, Sam trailing behind him.

“‘Not doing it right?’ It’s a vending machine, there’s not exactly a technique to it.”

In the hospital room, Steve Rogers continues to sleep peacefully. It won’t be long at all.


End file.
